Strange Holiday
by SiennaR79
Summary: Fed up, frustrated and bored with life in general, Freddy Jones and Katie Brown take it upon themselves to create some amusement by running away. Updated: Chapter Eight! :
1. Katie Is Waiting

Another story from me…yeah, it fell out of nowhere and hit me on the head last night while I was listening to Kill Hannah. Partially inspired by the song "New Heart for Xmas" by them, so I pulled the title from those lyrics too…this is going to be a fun story, though. Can't you just imagine the possibilities? Actually, I know vaguely where this is headed, but if you have any ideas for occurrences feel free to let me know. My email is , put something like "School of Rock" in the subject line so I don't mistake it for spam. Thanks!

-Sienna

Strange Holiday

Chapter One: Katie Is Waiting (Katie's POV)

It's so cold outside, but it feels good, looking up at the sharp stars and watching the clouds from my breath swirl over them. My feet crunch and slip in the snow, louder when I'm near my silent house, quieter as I make my way into the road, heading for our meeting place three streets over and one street down. It's a bit of a walk, but I don't mind.

No one was awake when I left. I faked a stomachache and went to my room to pack—jeans, two shirts, a handful of underwear, socks…toothbrush, all 120 dollars of my Christmas money, and CDs. I'm not sure why those were important. Maybe I just feel lonely without the Clash….

But I shouldn't be lonely. I can see the gazebo now, about two blocks away. It's almost one in the morning. Where is Freddy?

* * *

We came up with the idea half-jokingly, on the last day of school before vacation.

"I want to get out of here," I said, slumping into my desk for English. I was early, still getting used to changing classes for sixth grade. "I _need_ to get out of here."

"Relax, Brown," said Freddy Jones. "Vacation starts tomorrow."

I shook my head. "No, Freddy. Christmas vacation means—means cooking and cleaning and relatives and babysitting. It's 'oh Katie, would you mash those potatoes?' and 'Just watch Cousin Stevie while we all go to the Nutcracker' and 'that toilet needs scrubbing…get Katie' and how much I've grown…."

"Whoa, I repeat, relax…."

"Sorry. I'm a little spazzed out."

"Hey, I'm the spazzy one, remember?" He rolled his eyes around in a way that was slightly more psychotic than spazzy. I laughed anyway.

"Seriously, though," he said.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, you seriously need to take matters into your own hands, before you become Spazzy McKatie and things go insane."

"And how do you suggest I do that, O Spazzy One?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He shrugged. "Ditch them all. If I were you, I'd just run away."

I laughed harder that time, because the idea of me running away from anywhere was, to use a vocab word, preposterous. As in ridiculous, haha, never-in-your-lifetime kinda thing.

"Have you ever run away?" I asked.

"Sure, loads of times," Freddy answered. "Usually just for a day or night, when I can't take the whole family thing anymore."

"That wouldn't do me any good," I said. "They wouldn't actually miss me for a day, they'd just be annoyed that I wasn't there. And I'd get grounded." I thought for a moment. "I'd have to scare them good, like for a few days or a week, even."

"A week?" he repeated. "I've never tried a whole week before…that's gutsy…."

A possibility was creeping into my mind. It crept into Freddy's, too. He leaned in real close and dropped his voice, a devilish and excited grin sneaking onto his face.

"You wanna do it?"

I nodded.

"For real?"

I nodded again.

"You're not going to flake out on me?"

"Freddy, have I ever flaked?"

"Okay, point. Just making sure." He leaned back and scanned the room.

I looked around my sea of classmates, and I saw them with pity, because they were all on the outside of our killer plans.

"Who should we tell?" I asked, thinking of my friend Zack Mooneyham.

"Let's invite Zack," Freddy said. "Hey! Zack!"

Zack lifted his head from his desk, where he'd been napping.

"You wanna run away with me and Katie?" Freddy whispered across the room. Zack just raised his eyebrows a little, shook his head and went back to sleep.

"Guess he's a no," I said.

"Yeah. Anyone cool you wanna invite?"

"Nah…Summer's on a cruise." I didn't say what I was thinking, that he knew I pretty much only talked to him, Zack and Summer. I'm not antisocial, I don't think…just quiet. Anyway, I said, "I think we're good."

"Okay then," he said, grinning again. "Me and you…this is gonna rock."

* * *

And so, we decided. And I talked to him today online, and he said we were still on. But where is the little blonde bastard? I pull my pea coat tighter around me and shove my mittened hands into my pockets. The gazebo is covered in snow, even on the benches inside. I don't want to get the butt of my jeans soaked, so I stand in the middle of the floor, watching fat snowflakes land in the yellowish light of the streetlight. It snowed on Christmas Eve, the night before, how perfect is that? And after spending Christmas Day harried and hustled from room to room and task to task, when I'm supposed to be on vacation, I'm going to get free. Even if it is just for a little while.

Quarter past one. Where _is_ Freddy? God, if he leaves me here, I will never forgive him in a million years. A million and one. I won't talk to him in school, and at band practice I'll give him dirty looks and the silent treatment—not that I say much. If he's going to call it off, he could at least show up to tell me that. I had to walk four blocks to get here, he only has one. I could walk up to his house right now and ring the doorbell.

Brr. It's too cold to walk. I'll wait here for fifteen more minutes. Then I'm going home to my nice warm bed.


	2. Freddy's Got It All Worked Out

Thanks to wiseoldman and Brooke for reviewing! (hey, we have the same numbers in our pen names! haha)

Enjoy!

-Sienna

* * *

Chapter Two: Freddy's Got It All Worked Out (Freddy's POV)

I never mean to be late. But that doesn't seem to have much to do with it, cause I am anyway…this time I have a good excuse, but Katie doesn't want to hear it.

"Where the hell have you been, Fredward?" she demands. I'm momentarily amused by the steam coming out of her mouth—it makes her look kind of like a dragon. I'm about to tell her this when I think better of it.

"I had to get ready," I say.

"I've been here for twenty minutes. It's freaking freezing."

"Chill," I say, then laugh at myself. Katie doesn't. The cold must have frozen her pout. She's not really mad, though, I can tell. She wouldn't call me Fredward if she was really mad.

"Did you get everything?" she asks, looking at my backpack.

"Clothes, money. Snackage. You?"

"Clothes, money. CDs."

"Why CDs?"

She shrugs. "I dunno."

"Well, I think my Doritos will be a lot tastier than CDs."

"Right…how much money do you have?"

"Only seventy-five bucks…my Aunt Miriam couldn't visit today, so I didn't get the thirty from her I usually get."

"That's okay, I've got a hundred and twenty. We should be fine, right?"

"As long as you don't mind sleeping in the park like hobos," I say, grinning. She smiles.

"If I wanted someplace cushy to sleep, I'd have stayed home."

I'm so excited, I can't stand still. It's one of my worst traits, whenever I'm really hyper-happy about something, I get jittery. Right now I'm doing my best not to jump up and down.

"Are you EXCITED, Brown?"

She wrings her hands in her thick mittens, looking back towards her street. I can't read the expression on her face. _You promised you wouldn't flake, _I think.

"I'm just nervous, I guess."

"Psh, that," I say. "Let's get going. Then you won't be so nervous."

I step out from the gazebo's shelter and look around the street. She actually picked a good time to run away, because of the snow. It'll cover our tracks, for one, and for two it makes everything brighter, easier to see at night. What little light there is reflects off of it. See, I do know something.

Katie falls into step beside me; it's slow going through the snow until we reach the main road, Oak. It's usually a busy double-yellow-line street, but in the wee hours of the morning, it's silent.

"Come on," I say, jumping off the plow's pile and into the clear road. She follows reluctantly.

"What about cars?"

"There're hardly any cars this late, trust me."

"Obviously I do, Freddy."

I look back at her and grin again. There are snowflakes stuck all over her, her hat, her hair, her eyelashes, her shoulders like dandruff. She must be crazy.

"I don't even know where we're going, but what am I doing? I'm following you into the middle of a road, in the middle of the night, and we're probably going to the middle of nowhere. But I've known you since I was eight, so I'm pretty sure you're not a psycho—a dangerous psycho, anyway."

"Are you saying I'm a harmless psycho?"

She tilts her head. "Yes?"

"Sweet."

We walk north on Oak Road, toward school. Katie doesn't ask where we're going, and I don't offer it. I want to see how far she'll go trusting I have a destination in mind.

"Did you leave a note for your parents?" she asks after a few minutes.

"Yeah, did you?"

"Thought about it…didn't, though. Should I have?"

"You're asking me?"

"You're the expert," she says. "What did it say?"

"'Don't worry. I'll be back,'" I quote.

"Deep."

"Thank you."

"I would've gone into too much detail, I know it. And then they'd find us in a heartbeat, or not even worry, or something."

"Well, they'll figure something out eventually. We're both gone on the same night, my 'rents will find my note and be like, 'damn, did he take the Brown girl with him this time?' Then I'll get arrested for kidnapping."

She laughs, and it echoes off the snow-covered trees on either side of us.

"What, didn't you notice?" I say innocently. "I'm kidnapping you."

"Can't kidnap the willing," she says.

I have a sudden urge to do something stupid, like steal her hat and play keep away. So I swipe it off her head. Who am I to disregard my inner desires?

"Freddy! Give it back!"

She chases me for a hundred feet, slowing when I slow. I turn around and make a face at her, dangling her hat enticingly, still backing up as she approaches.

"Come on…"

"C'mere, girl!" I whistle, like I was calling a dog. "C'mon, Katie! Get it! Get it!"

"Do I look like a dog to you?"

Even I'm too smart to answer that. Fortunately, I'm saved from making any kind of reply by the arrival of a car—a truck, actually—moving fast around the corner, coming towards Katie's back.

"CAR!" I shout.

She starts to run towards me, and this time I run for her too, tackling her onto the snow bank and out of sight. The truck rumbles past on the wrong side of the road.

"Oof," she breathes.

I unwrap one of my arms from around her and jam her hat back on her head. "See, if you were a dog, you would've tried to chase that."

"I'm a lazy dog."

Katie sits up, shaking off me, the snow, and adjusting her hat. I jump to my feet and offer her my hand.

"How much further is it?" she asks as I pull her.

"Another mile or so. The place we're going is where I go a lot, when I run away for the night."

She nods. "Cool."

We walk in silence for a while. It gets darker as we go, as the snow clouds settle in and the flakes fall thicker around us. I keep my eyes and ears open for plows. Getting caught by one of them could be nasty, to say the least.

I can tell Katie wants to know where I'm taking her, but she's fighting hard to stay quiet, something that usually comes so easily to her. I keep walking purposefully. I won't tell until we get there. I don't say so, but I'm thinking to myself as we travel, _this would be sorta lonely without Katie. Not half as much fun._


	3. Katie's First Night As a Runaway

Wow! I can't believe I got so many reviews for the last chapter, that's great! Much thanks to Banana4422, katemmalestrange, Miss Riley, Strokes, wiseoldman, allyson, and the (Former) Queen of Marstons Mills! Also…if you've read my other fic, you know Katie's screenname. AIM let me have it, so if you wanna chat, you can IM me there…but see, this is a trick: you have to read my other fic to find it! Muahaha. I'm so evil.

Just to make things simpler: the titles have the names of the person who's POV the chapter is in. So if it says Katie Likes Food, Katie's the one talking. Okay? Sweet, let's go. :)

-Sienna

* * *

Chapter Three: Katie's First Night As a Runaway

I feel really strange. Excited, but a calm sort of excited…like…kinda happy. Like this is where I want to be, but I'm surprised and a little nervous to be here. Does that make sense? Nervous happiness…nervappy. I feel nervappy.

The cold air doesn't freeze me anymore, it feels good, refreshing. I'm all nice and warm inside my pea coat and hat and mittens and boots. The snow is falling more heavily now, turning the road ahead into a misty and indescribable white void. I look over my side every so often to check on Freddy.

"What?" he asks.

"Just making sure you're still there," I say. He smiles.

But God, where is he taking us? I'm determined, I've decided that I'm not going to ask; I'll prove to my kidnapper that I trust him. Besides, what good will it do me to know?

What if he misses the place because it's so snowy?

"Aha," Freddy says, pointing. There's a sign up ahead, maybe only twenty feet, but completely obscured so all I can see is a vague blue oval. Then we get closer, and I read it—O'Brian Elementary School.

"This is it?"

"Well, not the sign, obviously. Come on."

He leads me across the athletic field. We stick out like two shadows in the spotlight against all the snow, which is more than calf-deep here, but it gets shallower as we make our way around the building. I look at the old, unfamiliar playground—somewhat ghostly in the bluish night.

"Miss Brown, your accommodations for the night." He gestures to everything with a wave.

"Here?" I ask. I'm asking all kinds of intelligent questions tonight.

"You have your choices of rooms," he says, striding around proudly, as if he owned it all. "We have the slide, which is…shiny…actually I don't recommend sleeping there. There's under the castley-thing, and that's got a nice roof—good when it rains—but it's also open, and cold."

"You know from experience?"

"You bet. There's the swings…no point in them…on the bench works on a nice night…ah, but here we have my personal favorite." He walked over to a large black lump in the ground and patted it fondly. "The sunken tire things!

"They've got roofs, they've got walls, they're relatively dry and warm."

"Sounds excellent," I say.

I walk over to the tire next to him, no more than a foot away. _What are these things really for?_ I wonder as I crawl inside mine, squeezing more than a little to get in. I'm squeamish for a second, thinking of all the possible bugs and spiders and other wiggly things inside—but then I remember what I said earlier. "If I wanted someplace cushy to sleep, I'd have stayed home."

On the inside, it's not such a bad fit. The rubber walls are only a little dirty, not buggy. They squish me gently on either side and curve up under my head. It's kind of snuggly, once I spend five minutes twisting around to get my backpack off and hug it in my arms.

"You good?" Freddy asks.

"Yep," I say.

I watch him climb into his tire. Like the smart boy he is, he thinks to take off his backpack first.

"You do this a lot," I say, even though we've already established that. "Why?"

He pauses before answering. "Why did you want to run away?"

Even though he can't see me, I shrug. "I know I don't have it as bad as some kids. Like, you or Zack, getting yelled at and stuff, right?"

"And stuff," Freddy says.

"Yeah…so, I don't know. It's kinda sad I hate Christmastime so much. It's just all the people telling me what to do and expecting I'll do it, no questions asked, when it's my holiday too…it's all special for the little kids, and the adults make a big deal out of taking as many days off from work as they can, and I've got two weeks with no school to spend cleaning," I end in a huff. "It sucks."

"That does suck."

"Not that…not that I'm totally the worst off person in the world—"

"But it still sucks," says Freddy. "It's okay. Just cause your problems can't top everyone else's, doesn't mean you can't vent them to your friends. I mean, it's like a God-given, unmailable right."

"Unalienable?"

"Yeah, that."

He doesn't even care that I corrected him. Some people (like Summer, for instance, though God knows she never does anything wrong) get really pissed when you do that, even if you didn't do it in a mean way.

"What about you?" I ask.

There's a sigh from the tire next to me. "Kinda the same. Parents. Stupid little [he used a word I'd never heard someone my age use before] that think they can tell you everything. Like they know everything. And you try to freakin make a point, and all they do is yell and…tell you more of what you can't do…."

"Your parents are nice to me," I say, hoping I don't sound like a traitor.

"Of course, you're the nice girl from across the street. They're nice to Zack too. But you know, if we go through with this…hide out and make them worry for a whole week…they're gonna start to see you as my accomplice."

I laugh. "Well, it was my idea too."

"Katie Brown, you're now officially my partner in crime." I hope he's grinning too.

"Like Bonnie and Clyde."

"Who were they?"

"Um…I'm not totally sure…a guy and a girl that robbed places and stuff together, I think."

"Sweet. Feel like holding up the 7-Eleven tomorrow?"

"Not really. I'm still new to this whole disobedient and mischievous thing…let's pay for our food."

"Okay, okay. I didn't bring my gun anyway."

"That's reassuring."

We are both quiet for a moment. I guess he is drifting off to sleep, but I'm wide awake, looking out at the snow. What if something tries to hurt us out here? …but then, what is out here? We're only two miles from our backyards, and close to our preppy school, too. It's not exactly the wilderness.

"Do you really have a gun?" I ask finally.

"…joke, Katie…" comes Freddy's muffled reply.

"Okay."

It's actually very peaceful…. I adjust my backpack, feeling the edges of my CDs's jewel cases digging into my rib. Time to sleep, Katie.

Haha, yeah, like I can sleep….


	4. Freddy in the Morning

Thank you lovely reviewers! I'm updating roughly once a day at about sevenish, if I keep on schedule with my writing. I figure most people are online after dinner anyway.

Comments? Suggestions? Review!

-Sienna :)

* * *

Chapter Four: Freddy in the Morning

I wake up at about five thirty in the morning, just like I knew I would. It's still dark, but the sky is a little lighter in the east, and the snow has stopped. My jeans are a little wet on the sides but other than that I'm pretty comfortable.

Katie looks completely asleep. I feel bad about waking her up, so I let her snooze while I think things out in my mind.

We got here around two, so two to five thirty, that's three and a half hours of sleep. Not nearly enough. But this is the best time to move, because in a few hours our parents will wake up and realize we're not there, and in a few more hours Katie's parents will be going insane and calling everyone to see if they know where she is…should she have left a note? I'm sure they'll figure it out…besides, can't go back now.

My stomach grumbles. Damn, I forgot about breakfast. Okay, so add a trip to a 24-hour convenience store to this morning's agenda.

How many miles is it into town? Half a mile from here to school, maybe just one mile into town…still, we need to get moving. Soon the road will be busy and the cars will have people in them to see us, soon we'll be forced into the snow and leaving tracks.

Wow, I've never thought anything out like this before. Maybe I should become a con artist or something, someone who's sneaky for a living. It could work.

I wriggle out of my tire and stand up, my back cracking. Definitely need a place to stretch out tonight.

"Kaaaatie," I say, shaking her shoulder. "Katie Brown…Posh Spice…world's most incredible bassist…wake up, Katie."

"Ummph," she mumbles.

"I know it's early—come on, up."

She opens her eyes, squinting at first, then wider as she realizes there's hardly any light to squint at. "What time is it?"

"About five thirty. In the morning."

"Too damn early," she says, groaning. "Can't we sleep until noon or something?"

I shake my head. "No, we have to get moving…now…." Seeing this isn't going anywhere, I throw her backpack aside, then reach under her arms and heave her out. Stumbling, rubbing her eyes, she stands up.

"Okay…(yawn) I'm up…."

"Ick," I say, still standing close to her in between the two tires. "Morning breath."

She closes her mouth quickly. "Sorry."

"S'okay, mine's probably worse. I didn't brush my teeth last night."

"Ew. Dirtball."

"I know, I know."

We walk across the field again. I look for traces of our footprints, but they're completely gone. That's good, maybe that means the ones leading away from our houses are gone too. It would really suck if we got caught on the first day of this. I tell Katie so.

"Who's going to catch us?" she asks.

"Parents. Police. Concerned citizens," I say.

"Oh."

"What time do your parents wake up?"

"Around seven," Katie says. "Meredith can't sleep later than that."

I nod. "Okay, so we've got an hour and a half until your little sister wakes up your parents. Think they'll notice you're gone right away?"

"Not right away…depends on how soon they need me. Probably not until seven-thirty or eightish."

"That gives us about two hours," I say.

"Two hours to get to a better hiding place?"

"Exactly. We have to get far enough away, so when they start looking they won't find us."

"Sounds good, Freddy," she says, hiking up her backpack. We're walking on the road now, extra careful about cars, but it is the day after Christmas—not like anyone's going to work or anything. "What about food?"

"You hungry? I've got chips."

"No, I mean real food. Like hamburgers and stuff."

"We'll have to buy it, I guess."

"We've got a hundred and ninety dollars," says Katie. "It's December 26th, school starts again January 6th, so that's ten days to be runaways."

"Wait," I say, "I only brought enough underwear for a week."

She wrinkles her nose. "I'm just figuring it out, okay? If we spend twenty dollars a day on food, we'll have fifty dollars left for…whatever. Laundromat money."

I whistle. "Sounds like a lot."

"I hope so…. Hello, Horace Green."

We walk past the turn for our school. I glare at it.

"And on our left, ladies and gentlemen, we have the actual hell on earth, established in 1938," I say in my best tour-guide voice.

"It's not that bad," Katie says, "not the best place in the world, but I mean, it's not like they beat us or something."

"If we were British, we could be the kids in The Wall," I say. She looks at me.

"_How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?_" we both screech, laughing hard and scaring a couple of crows.

"I should trick Ms. Mullins into saying that," I say. "It would be priceless."

"It would," she agrees. "Car!"

Scrambling over the plow bank. we lie on our bellies on the other side until the headlights pass us by. It's getting lighter, but still pretty dim.

"We don't need no education…" Katie whispers.

"We don't need no thought control…" I hum back. We get up and start back on the road.

"No dark sarcasm in the classrooms…."

"Hey, I like sarcasm."

"Shut up, you're messing up the song."

"Sorry. Teacher leave them kids alone…"

"Hey!"

"Teacher!"

"Leave them kids alone!"

I draw in breath for the dramatic, famous last line. "All and all you're just another brick in the wall."

"Beautiful."

"I know I am."

Katie laughs and I grin. "This is more fun than my X-box."

"I'm flattered that you find me more entertaining than video games, Fredward."

_You're more entertaining than anything, _I think, but all I say is, "Yep."

The road seems to widen, but really it's just the trees on either side thinning out and fading away. I check my watch—six o'clock—and we're almost inside the town. Where are we going to hide the day?

"Where are we going to hide?" I ask, hoping it doesn't make me seem like I don't know what I'm doing.

"You don't have somewhere in mind?"

"I've never gone this far. I know I've been in charge ("hah," breathes Katie), but now I, uh, need your help."

"You always have my help," she says. "Maybe we can crawl under someone's deck or something."

I almost laugh, but I'm not sure if she's serious or not. Then again, was sleeping on an old playground that much better? And under a deck would be near a house, which might mean warm—jeez, I've got to stop thinking like this. I'm getting too logical.

"Hey, is that a building up there?" Katie says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I think so."

Her eyes light up. "It's a 7-Eleven! We're saved!"

"Were we starving?"

She doesn't answer. You would think she hadn't eaten in days.


	5. Katie's in Heaven

As always, a big THANKYOU to those who reviewed! :) And I have a quick question: I know the kids are in New Jersey, but where was Dewey's apartment and all? Was that in the city part of NJ, or in New York somewhere? If you could IM me or leave that in the review it would be most incredibly helpful to upcoming chapters…. –wink

-Sienna

* * *

Chapter Five: Katie's in Heaven

I _run_ to the 7-Eleven. I seriously just bolt on over there, Freddy in my tracks. He grabs my arm.

"Hold _on_, Brown."

I stop. "Sorry…"

Freddy's digging around in his backpack. He comes out with a handful of money—three twenties, a ten and a five.

"I had a fifty, but I thought that would look kinda suspicious," he explains.

"A little," I agree. He shoves the crumpled bills into my hands.

"You be treasurer, okay? I don't trust myself not to spend it."

I shrug, "I'm better than you at math anyway."

Taking out my little blue wallet, I add his money and keep a twenty in my hand. "This is our cash for today. And we're going into hiding, right? (He nods.) So we have to buy enough food to keep us happy all day, wherever we hide."

"I like your under the deck idea," he says. I wonder if he's serious.

We push open the door and as a gust of warm air hits us, I say a silent thank-you to God for 24-hour convenience stores. There's nothing quite as wonderful after a night in the cold as their golden light, the shelves and shelves of snackage, the pretty bottles of drinks all lined up, and the one creepy cashier in camouflage sitting behind the register watching TV….

He gives us a funny look. "You kids are up early."

I just smile, but Freddy says, "yeah, we're going to New York today."

The guy watches us closely as we go up and down the aisles. I select a thing of milk, a bag of mini-donuts, two bottles of water for later, a Three Musketeers bar and a bag of pretzels.

"That's not going to be enough," Freddy says, dumping on the counter three Cokes, three Hershey bars, two packs of Twinkies and another big bag of Doritos.

"Don't you already have those?"

"Yeah, but I plan on eating them."

I sigh—Doritos are expensive. "Whatever, let's just get this for now."

The cashier starts ringing everything up and I watch the total get higher and higher, hoping it won't go over twenty dollars. Freddy seems oblivious—he keeps finding other things to add to the pile. I smack his hand when he decides he needs yet another candy bar.

"Hungry kids," says the guy. He definitely thinks we're weird.

"Grandma can't cook," Freddy says, shrugging and grabbing our bags. "Merry Christmas."

It seems even colder outside after the happy warmth of 7-Eleven. We're on the edge of the town now, a few shops on either side, a CVS and a big grocery store up the street. The houses here are thin, but if you go down the crossroads, there are some bigger neighborhoods. We head toward one of the side streets as the sun rises.

"That dude was cracked," says Freddy. I nod, because I've stuffed my mouth with doughnuts. "Hey, share."

I offer him the bag. We eat and walk in silence for a block or so, until I stop on a likely-looking street. Lots and lots of houses backed right up against the woods…with sheds.

Freddy looks where I'm looking, then wiggles his eyebrows at me. "What do you think, Katie? Time to lie low?"

"Definitely. It'll be completely light in like twenty minutes, and then we're stuck."

"Right," he says.

We stop to shove all the food in our backpacks. Once settled, I start walking up the street—but Freddy grabs my arm and points to the backyards.

"Vedy vedy sneaky," he whispers.

Our loud footfalls are far from sneaky, but we crouch low and sneak anyway. It's a funny word, sneak. I keep repeating it to myself as we go. Sneak, sneak, sneak. Sneak, sneak, sneak.

"Okay, that's getting annoying," says Freddy.

Oops. "Sorry." Guess I wasn't thinking it after all.

"What about this one?" I ask, pointing to a seemingly random house on our left.

"Why that one?"

"No cars in the driveway."

"Oh. Good call."

They have a big new-looking shed, painted green with white trim to match their house. I'm ready to turn away when I see there's a combination lock on the door, but Freddy makes a "psh" sound and brushes me aside.

"These things are easy." He kneels in the snow, takes off one glove and starts turning the knob with his head tilted close to the lock.

"You're going to pick it?" I say incredulously.

"Shh. Not exactly."

Freddy fiddles with it for a few minutes, first listening, then putting in numbers and pulling. It opens after a few pulls.

"Oh, I _am_ magical."

"You're a crook, Freddy Jones." I open the door a little and stick my head inside. It's not quite as new as the paint makes it look, but it'll do.

"What are you waiting for?" he asks, peering over my shoulder.

"Nothing. Be quiet."

There are all the usual things: lawnmower, bikes, garden tools, flowerpots. A narrow path leads through the clutter. It's really amazingly dark in there, so I let my eyes adjust before stepping in.

"I think there's an open space in the back," I say. "Come on."

"Bloody hell, I can't see anything…."

I grab Freddy's gloveless hand and lead him forward. A couple of cobwebs brush my face, but nothing disgusting. It's only a little warmer in here than out there. I was right, there is a space in the back, a three-by-three corner into which they haven't pushed any junk, yet.

"Score," I whisper.

We go to work, removing our backpacks and fitting ourselves into the small opening. It's sort of cozy. We put our feet on the lawnmower and our backs against the outside wall and eat, finishing the doughnuts and Freddy's first bag of Doritos. I make a mental note to brush my teeth when we get up.

"What do we do next?" I ask.

He shrugs. "We nap?"

"I mean after that."

"Um…again, Katie, I've never gone this far before…."

"I know, I'm asking what you think. I'm not expecting you to have a set plan for this whole week."

"Okay, well. We need to get out of town."

"What?"

"Seriously, unless you wanna spend your week in sheds and closets…we need to go someplace where there are more people, and farther away from our own families."

I guess that makes sense, but somehow I hadn't really considered skipping town. It seems kinda scary. You know what, I'm just not going to think about it right now.

A yawn escapes me, and I realize how tired I am. I was afraid to sleep last night before we left, afraid that my alarm wouldn't wake me up, or would wake someone else up, or something. I scoot down and snuggle my head into the puffy shoulder of Freddy's jacket.

"Let's just take our nap now," I suggest.

He yawns too. I can smell Doritos on his breath. "Sounds good, Katie…."


	6. Freddy Must Deal

Sorry it's been so long, lovely readers. Want to hear my excuses? Well, first, I was out of state, then I was at sports camp, then I got a new computer so I had to move all my files…hehe…yeah well, thanks so much to people who reviewed: Bal8rokstar, nishia (x2 lol), cattyforlz, wiseoldman, Brooke and Kate-Emma—I know that guy is exactly like the ones in 7-Eleven!!! I went there at 2 am with my friend once to buy some Snapple and he was there…. But really, I am horrible at keeping up with things I write, so I'm amazed that I really wrote this. I did it for you guys, because…well, you seem to like it! I wrote half of this chapter a long time ago, then stopped to write Downfall, which is why some of the stuff in the beginning may sound similar. I'm sorry if this is kind of short and crappy, but as I said, it's incredibly rare for me to pick up anything again, so I'm giving it my best try. Thanks again!

-Sienna, writer of long author's notes

* * *

Chapter Six: Freddy Must Deal

I wake up cold on one side and warm on the other. On my cold side there's a bag of fertilizer. On my warm side there's Katie, asleep.

Can you guess which one I scoot closer to?

Very carefully, trying not to wake her, I lift my arm between us and check my watch. Quarter past three. Definitely still time to sleep….

_Dude, this is so crazy, _I think happily. _On my own again but not alone, this is way better than usual. Just chillin in this awesome pad…okay, the fertilizer kinda smells…and chillin is right, it's getting colder…._

I wonder if Katie's cold, on her side that's next to the shed wall, then I worry she is. Why am I worrying? __

I only hear silence from myself. I know what the answer should be. "Cause you're like, best friends, have been for years. Cause she's your buddy." Would that be so hard for myself to say?__

There's no answer.

I shake my head. "Careful you don't go crazy now, Freddy Jones," I whisper, looking at Katie's shiny hair and putting my arm around her shoulders. She is cold.

Katie sighs a little, resting her hand and head on my chest. We should buy a blanket or something. There's no reason to be cold out here, not when we've got money up the ying-yang and a perfectly good hiding place.

But where are we going to go next? Dammit, I knew I should have planned this more.

No. No. I am going back to sleep. I am closing my eyes and going zzzzz.

Sleep, do you hear me?

SLEEP!

* * *

Eyes shut, doze, eyes open, eyes shut, shift shift shift, my butt has fallen asleep. It's useless.

I wonder if the police are looking for us yet.

I try to imagine what's going on at home. Mom probably woke up around eight and had coffee. Dad probably woke up around ten and read the newspaper. When would they have noticed that I wasn't there? Noon? Sooner?

Then they would call Zack and Katie and all my other friends. They'd discover Katie was gone as well. They'd put two and two together, look through my room, find my note and my detailed explanation of what we'd done ("Don't worry. I'll be back.") My parents might give me a day or two to show up on my own, but I bet Katie's will spaz and call the cops. They'll want dogs, detectives, helicopters, the works, just to bring their daughter home from the clutches of the local bad boy.

Was this a good idea?

"Like hell I'm going back now," I mutter.

I hear a yawn, and Katie sits up a little. "Going back where?"

"Nothing," I say. I don't want her to think I'm weakening.

Sitting up properly and leaning against the wall, she yawns again and rubs her eyes. I check my watch; it's almost five. "Think it's dark yet?"

"I dunno," she says. "But my whole body is all stiff. I don't wanna lie here anymore."

"Me neither," I say.

We both look at the door for a moment, expectantly. There's no light coming in through the cracks on either side, which I suppose is a sign that the sun's at least somewhat set.

"Where are we going?"

I think for a minute. "We need to get out of the town, right? They're going to be looking for us. We need to get lost."

"Lost without forgetting where we are."

"Right."

"How about the city?"

"The city?" I repeat. I was thinking of hopping a bus to Pennsylvania somewhere, a nice easy little town where we could visit for a couple of days. Far away from where they'd expect the two missing kids to be. "Why there?"

She shrugs. "We've been there before, to see Dewey and everything. It's busy but too far away…it's not like, out in Pennsylvania or something."

"Right," I say, swallowing my Pennsylvania idea. I stand up. "Right. Let's go."

"What, right now?"

"Unless you want to chill here for a while? I thought you were tired of sitting."

"Well, I am, but…I just…."

I look at her. "Do you want to go home or something?" God help me if she says yes. I'll hit her. Sounds harsh, but when we go home, her parents are going to kill me, so it's really pretty fair I think. I could have run away for two days by myself and not gotten murdered. This was supposed to be worth it.

"No!" she exclaims. "I don't want to go home at all! It's something else."

"Like what?"

"It's…it's kinda weird…."

I wait expectantly.

"Freddy, I have to pee."

I start to laugh. "That's not a big deal! We'll just—"

Suddenly we both hear a sound, the ominously familiar and close sound of a door closing. Like, say, the back door of the house. And someone crunching across the icy snow.

I duck down, just in case. Katie's looking at me fearfully.

"What if they see our footprints?" she says, but I shush her.

Less than a minute passes before the door begins to ease open. I hear Katie's breath catch and clamp my hand over her mouth instantly, keeping my eyes focused on the door. There's a man there, silhouetted in what little light there is outside, his shadow made lumpy by whatever he's carrying. He grunts as he sets it down on the floor. _Please, please, please don't look back here, _I'm thinking, _please don't see the blonde kid hiding behind your fertilizer. _

He pushes the lawnmower over a little, sliding around everything in the shed. Katie pries my fingers from her lips and holds my hand painfully tightly. Then he's gone.

"He didn't lock the door," she whispers, almost before it's safely shut.

"He's coming back."

"We can't get locked in, Freddy. We'd starve."

"I'd saw through the walls before that happened," I say, but all the same, I don't want to be trapped either. "Come on. Let's run for it."

We clamber over the junk in the shed, trying to be quiet, until we're next to the door and Katie knocks over a bunch of shovels. They clatter and clang.

I glance out the door. The shadow of a man is on the deck, but he definitely heard that sound; he's walking faster across the hundred feet of his backyard towards us.

"We're going to be seen," I say.

"But not caught," she says. Tightening her grip on my hand, Katie runs out the door, pulling me along with her.

"Hey!" the guy yells.

_Crap_, I think. _He's going to chase us._

"Faster, Katie!" I hiss, taking the lead as we dart into the woods. "Faster!"


	7. Katie the Hunted

Yay! Thanks for the reviews! I'm in a hurry to get this up so I'll do name mentions next chapter. It took me a while to write this one too, but I am trying, I really am, thank you all so much for your support because if I didn't get reviews, I probably wouldn't bother to write this. But I do like it. Sorry it's a bit short. Also sorry for the cliffy at the end…but it's just a small one, not a huge deal, I promise, so don't stress about it. (: As always, please review!!!

-Sienna

* * *

Chapter seven: Katie the Hunted

"Hey!"

You would think he could come up with something better to shout at us as we ran away from his shed. 'Hey' is not the height of human communication. It doesn't give us any information, like, "I'm calling the cops," or "I've got a shotgun" or "Get 'em, Fido!" might. But no, Hey! Let me stop right now and go reason this out with you!

"Hey! You!"

The woods are close now. I race to the scrubby undergrowth like…like something I would really want to get to. I don't know. Freddy's running alongside me, but once we hit the woods he drops back, slowed by all the vines and branches that go whip, whip, sting, poke.

Maybe I should try out for cross-country in high school. Hmm.

My feet fly me. It's probably just the trees going by, but I feel like I'm running faster than I've ever run before. Oh, and did I mention that I'm scared? Not exactly terrified, but startled and my mind is saying go! Go! Go!

"Hey!"

Honestly, if he can't think of something more imaginative….

"Hey—KATIE!"

I stop short, about to burst out of the foresty cover. Freddy. Freddy is now yelling 'hey'.

"Sorry," I say, turning around, a little flushed. Which turns out to be nothing compared with Freddy's red, sweating face. I almost laugh—who'd have thought you could sweat in the snow?

"Speed demon," he mutters.

"Sorry," I say again.

Freddy leans against a tree for a moment, breathing heavily. I raise one eyebrow.

"I think you're a little out of shape, Fredward."

He glares at me. "That's not true. It's just my legs. My legs are slow."

"Right—"

"My arms are fast," he continues. Guess he feels defensive…beat at running by a girl. Beat senseless. Booyah!

No, no Katie, be nice.

"I know they are, like when you drum. Where's the bus stop?"

"Oh. Um…that way, I think." He points left. I nod.

It's annoyingly slow to trudge through the edge of the woods, especially after my burst of speed a few moments ago. I try to remember the last time I really ran. Probably playing tag sometime last year, maybe at Zack's birthday party or something…anyway, a long time ago. I should run more often. It felt good.

We reach the bus stop—one of those little shelter things of plexiglass, so popular with homeless people—and I stay in the _lovely_ vegetation while Freddy goes to check the schedule.

Haha. Note the sarcasm. It's damn cold out here, and crouching for five minutes makes my thighs hurt. I'd sit on the ground, but then the snow would melt and I'd have a wet butt…and no one wants that. Especially me. I start to rock back and forth to ease the strain.

I wonder if they're looking for us? They must be. My parents must be freaking out…. _Do I feel guilty? _I ask myself. Surprisingly, the answer is no. Good little Katie, obedient daughter, family slave…is doing something for herself! Screw them!

Ouch, that's corny. I sound like a sixties pop song. And not even a good sixties pop song…as if there were any….

No, but seriously. This is exciting. Nervappiness agrees with me. Being with Freddy agrees with me, even when Freddy himself doesn't.

_He makes a good pillow, too,_ some rogue part of my consciousness thinks.

"Er, right. That…too."

I look towards the bus stop, determined not to think anymore.

Freddy returns, practically crawling along, talking to himself. "Six thirty, seven fifteen. Six thirty, seven fifteen."

"Those our bus times?"

"Yep," he nods. I notice he has a piece of paper in his hand, all crumpled and torn at the top. It's electric pink.

"What's that?" I ask at the same moment as he asks, "why are you rocking like a madwoman?"

"It's hard to stay in this position."

I watch him think about this—probably considering lewd connections to be made to the word "position". After a moment he says, "and the ground's not good enough for you?"

"Well, I don't want my butt to get wet. And I really, really have to pee now."

"Right. You know, I actually forgot I had to go, in all that adrenaline excitement.…" He checks his watch. "We've got like, half an hour until the bus comes. You go that way (point left), I'll go this way (point right). If you don't come back in twenty minutes I'll come after you." He winks. I shudder.

"Freddy Jones, I can't pee in the woods."

He looks shocked. "What? Why not?"

"Anatomy," I mumble.

"What?"

"ANATOMY, Jones. You know, girls have to sit down and everything." I can't believe I'm having this conversation with him!

Freddy just grins.

"What?" I say this time.

"Well, I'm relieved to find out you don't have a—"

"Ah! No! You pervert!"

"Whoa! Calm down now, Katie Brown. I was just kidding, I couldn't resist."

"You can't resist anything."

"Yes I can, but that's not the point." He holds up his hands, trying to placate me. "Can't you…can't you like, sit on a tree or something?"

I roll my eyes. "Why don't we just go to 7-11 and ask to use the bathroom or something."

"Because," he says, and I remember the piece of paper as his grip on it tightens.

My legs are screaming. I stand up and stretch, bending at the waist to stay low. "What is that?"

Freddy is quiet. From this angle—usually I'm an inch or two below him—I can see his hair is suffering from gel withdrawal. The spikes are kinda softened. My own hair falls over his face when he looks up at me. Awkwardly, he hands me the paper.


	8. Freddy Long Title

Ohmygod.

Could it be?

An UPDATE!

Hope you like it….

Sienna

* * *

Chapter Eight: Freddy Thinks Less Than Highly of His Parents

I try to read Katie's face while she reads the paper. I didn't really mean to bring it to her, only I didn't want anyone getting on the bus to see.

Her eyes scan the pink sheet—her least favorite color, even I know that—with a bad black-and-white version of her school picture on it. MISSING, it says in big letters. _KATHERINE ELIZABETH BROWN._ _Age: 12, (almost 13), height: 5'2", weight: 110, hair: brown, eyes: brown. _Heh, her last name is her hair and eye color…no Freddy, be serious….

A little laugh escapes Katie, though it sounds weak and forced. She looks at me.

"Well, at least we know they're looking for us," she says.

"You," I correct. "They're looking for you. Do you see my name anywhere on there?"

She reads it again. "No…I guess not…."

I sit back and cross my arms. "Figures."

"I'm sure your parents are looking for you too, Freddy," she says reassuringly. "They probably just didn't put posters up…I mean, really, posters are so old…."

"No," I said. "Don't bother, Brown. They're not and I know they're not. They're enjoying this time alone while I'm out here possibly getting myself killed."

"Freddy…" She puts a hand on my shoulder. I jump a little, because she's touching me and her face seems so close and…I don't know. I just look at her.

"They _do_ care about you," she says, staring straight into my eyes. "They have to. It's like the law or something."

I try to laugh, but it comes out more like a scoff. Katie backs away. Dammit. "I'm sorry. I know they do," I lie. "They just don't act like it."

"Neither do mine sometimes," she says. "It's okay."

She takes the paper and folds it carefully, smoothing out each crease before tucking it into her backpack. Then she stands up, stretching.

"Not trying to be insensitive or anything," she says, "but I think my bladder is about to burst."

I laugh for real this time. "Okay…."

She points her finger at me. "If I'm not back by the time the bus comes, send a search party." She pauses, and then we both laugh (somewhat nervously), because there already is a search party for her, isn't there?

I watch Katie disappear into the woods, then go my own way—not as far, though—and take care of business. Walking back, it sounds like I'm some massive bear lumbering through the woods with all the noise I make, not a kind of skinny 12-year-old kid. _Someone could hear that. Hell, someone in Australia could hear that. _I try to step more lightly, but it doesn't really work.

I'm first back to our packs. Poor Katie…it must suck being a girl, at least when you have to pee in the woods.

Although, I admit, I'm pretty glad she's not a guy….

She'd be a really girly guy, even if she's not a girly girl….

We could call her Kyle…or Kenneth…Kenny!

"You look thoughtful, Fredward," Katie says, suddenly appearing next to me. How does she walk so quietly?

"Does that scare you, Kenny?"

She blinks.

"Who's Kenny?"

"You. I decided it. It's your name?"

"Oh." Pause. "And all these years I thought it was 'Katie'…."

"Well, you were wrong," I say, opening the backpack and digging into the more-than-half-empty Doritos bag.

Katie helps herself. "Apparently…you know, I had a really weird dream last night. Or this afternoon, whatever." Crunch, crunch. "You were in it."

"Really?"

"Yep."

I waited a second, but she didn't say anything, and of course now I wanted to know. "What happened?"

Crunch, crunch. "I'll tell you later. Is that the bus?"

"Oh," I say, as the gray and blue bus rounds the corner. There's one other guy at the bus stop, who's completely absorbed into a conversation on his cell phone. Good, he probably didn't hear us talking way too loud. Katie pokes my ribs and points to the man; we eavesdrop curiously.

"I just don't understand him, Cheryl. This directing business isn't going to get him anywhere—no, don't defend it. You know I'm right—well, you saw that film he made last year. Our son isn't exactly the next Steven Spielberg…. He needs to study something _sensible _in college. I think political science could—what are you yelling at me for!"

"I guess Mr. Mooneyhams are mass produced," I say. You could replace Zack's dad with this briefcase-toting, besuited man and no one would know the difference.

The bus opens its doors. The man flashes a pass as he gets on board, Katie doles out a few dollar bills and we take our pick of the mostly-empty seats.

I have to sit in the back. I'm sorry, it's just how I roll.

Katie sighs as we flop into our seats. "It must suck to really have your parents not support you."

"Yep. Does."

"Mine don't think music's the greatest thing ever, but I think they kind of understand why I love it so much…as long as I keep the rest of my life together, they don't complain, you know?"

"Yeah, you're lucky. You got reasonable ones." The bus pulls away from the curb, rattling and wheezing like someone sickly.

"Hah. I guess they're not so bad…"

I pick at imaginary dirt on my cuff. "Let's not talk about parents now."

She bites her lip and looks at me with those big brown eyes. "Okay," she says unsurely. "I'm—I'm sorry if—"

"No, no," I say, shaking my head. "You didn't say anything wrong. I just don't want them to ruin my adventure."

"Oh, right."

I smile at her and pat her hand. She turns her palm up and we squeeze hands. The bus rocks as it charges through piles of slush, dirt spattering the gray window. Her pink nose and cheeks look so bright against that backdrop, and I'm glad to have her hand in mine—a simple reminder that we're in this together.


End file.
